Crimping apparatus for coaxial terminals in strip form



D8023, 1969 w FRlTz ET AL 3,484,922 I CRIMPING APPARATUS FOR COAXIAL TERMINALS IN STRIP FORM Filed Oct. 30, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet l c.w. FRITZ ETAL 3,484,922 CRIMPING APPARATUS FOR CQAXIAL TERMINALS IN STRIP FORM Fil-ed Oct. so. 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Dec. 23, 1969 Filed Oct. 50, 19s? c. w. FRITZ ET CRIMPING APPARATUS FOR COAXIAL TERMINALS IN STRIP FORM 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Dec. 23, 1-969 c. w. FRITZ ET AL 3,484,922

CRIMPING APPARATUS FOR COAXIAL TERMINALS IN STRIP FORM Filed Oct. 30, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Dec. 23, 1969 qw. FRITZ ETA]; 3,484,922

CRIMPING APPARATUS FOR COAXIAL TERMINALS IN STRIP FORM Filed Oct. 30, 1967 I Sheets-Sheet 5 United States Patent 0 US. Cl. 29-203 8 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Applicator for applying coaxial terminals in side-byside strip form to the ends of coaxial cables has feeding means for feeding terminals to the operating zone of the apparatus. Leading terminal of the strip is located between the crimping dies and the crimping anvils with the carrier strip extending through an open shearing mechanism for shearing the leading terminal from the strip. Ram, on which crimping dies are mounted, moves downwardly through a portion of its stroke to effect shearing of the leading terminal from the strip to move one of the crimping anvils against the terminal. The terminal, which has been severed from the strip, is gripped and the downward movement of the ram is interrupted while the operator positions the center conductor of the cable in the inner ferrule of the terminal and positions the shielding material of the cable in surrounding relationship to the outer ferrule of the terminal. A sleeve is then moved against the terminal and in surrounding relationship to the rearward end of the outer ferrule of the terminal. The ram is moved downwardly through the remainder of its stroke to crimp the terminal onto the end of the cable.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to an apparatus for crimping contact terminals in ladder strip form onto the ends of coaxial cables. The term coaxial cable is herein used to identify that type of shielded cable having an inner conductor, an inner sheath of insulating material, a layer of braided metallic shielding material over the inner insulating sheath, and finally an outer layer of insulation over the shielding material. When two cables of this type are connected to each other, the pin and socket contact terminals used are provided with separate inner and outer metallic ferrules which contact each other but remain electrically separated from each other. A contact terminal of this type is secured to the end of the cable by crimping or otherwise electrically connecting the inner conductor of the cable to the inner ferrule of the terminal and the shielding material of the cable to the outer ferrule of the terminal. When the terminal is engaged with a mating terminal, the shielding material of the cable is thus electrically connected and the inner conductors are also electrically connected but the shielding material and inner conductor are electrically isolated from each other.

It has been common practice in the past to manufacture coaxial contact terminals as loose-piece parts rather than in strip form for several reasons. Such coaxial contact terminals are composed of several separate parts which must be assembled to each other at the time of manufacture. At least some of these parts have, in the past, commonly been manufactured by screw machine operations rather than by die stamping and forming. The complexity of the operation of assembling the several parts of a coaxial terminal and the fact that some of these parts have commonly been screw machine parts has precluded the manufacture of such terminals in continuous strip form. Strip form terminals are in many respects preferable to loose-piece terminals, particularly as 3,484,922 Patented Dec. 23, 1969 ice regards speed of application to wires. When a terminal is manufactured in strip form, it can be applied by means of an automatic or semi-automatic crimping press which includes means for feeding the strip to the crimping tooling and means for severing the individual terminals from the strip thereby avoiding the necessity of having this operator handle the individual contact terminals.

The present invention is directed to the provision of a crimping press for crimping coaxial contact terminals in strip form onto the ends of cables. As will be explained more fully below, an applicator in accordance with the in vention incorporates novel features by means of which the relatively complex operation of crimping a coaxial contact terminal onto the end of a coaxial cable can be carried out at a high production rate by an unskilled or semi-skilled technician.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved apparatus for applying contact terminals onto the ends of cables. A further object is to provide an apparatus for crimping coaxial contact terminals in strip form onto the ends of coaxial cables. It is a more specific object of the invention to provide an applicator having means for severing a coaxial contact terminal from a carrier strip during an initial portion of its operating cycle and holding the severed terminal between the crimping dies and crimping anvils of the applicator during a cycle interruption to permit the technician properly to insert the coaxial cable into the terminal. It is a further object of the invention to provide an applicator for coaxial contact terminals which is relatively foolproof and which permits the achievement of a high production rate of application of terminals to coaxial cables by an unskilled or semi-skilled technician.

These and other objects of the invention are achieved in a preferred embodiment thereof comprising a set of crimping dies and crimping anvils movable relatively towards and away from each other. These dies and anvils crimp the center ferrule of a coaxial terminal onto the center conductor of a cable and also crimp a separa e sleeve onto the exposed portion of the shielding material of the cable and onto the end of the outer ferrule of the terminal. The sleeve is also crimped onto the outer insulation of the coaxial cable which is adjacent to the end of the terminal. The strip of coaxial contact terminals are fed towards the operating zone in which this tooling is provided and, during an initial portion of the operating cycle of the apparatus, the leading terminal is severed from the strip and gripped between by one of the crimping dies and one of the crimping anvils. During a cycle interruption which follows severing of this leading terminal from the strip, the operator inserts the cable into the terminal and positions a sleeve in surrounding relationship to the terminal. The operator then actuates the press for the final portion of the downward strokes of the press ram and the terminal is crimpled onto the inserted cable end. In the disclosed embodiment of the invention, an inserting slide is provided to facilitate the insertion of the stripped cable end into the terminal and to relationship to the end of the cable and the end of the contact terminal.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a frontal view of a preferred embodiment of the invention showing the positions of the parts at the beginning of the operating cycle;

FIGURE 2 is a side view on an enlarged scale of the apparatus of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary view showing the lower portion of the apparatus of FIGURE 1 and illustrating in the positions of the parts at an intermediate stage of the operating cycle, this view being taken along the lines 3-3 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 4 is a sectional side view taken through the crimpling tooling of the apparatus of FIGURE 1 showing the positions of the parts at the time of the cycle interruption, that is, after the leading terminal has been severed from the strip and prior to insertion of the stripped cable end into the terminal held in the crimping tooling;

FIGURE 5 is a vew taken along the lines 55 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view, on an enlarged scale, showing the positions of the crimping dies and anvils at the beginning of an operating cycle;

FIGURES 7 and 8 are View similar to FIGURE 6 but showing the positions of the parts at successive stages of the operating cycle;

FIGURE 9 is a perspective view showing the end portion of a coaxial cable which has been prepared for attachment to a contact terminal, and showing a contact pin in alignment with this cable;

FIGURE 9A is a perspective view of a crimped terminal showing the dies and anvils which form the severed crimps; and

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary perspective view showing the crimping dies and anvils and the manner in which they are mounted in the apparatus.

Referring first to FIGURE 9, a conventional coaxial cable 4 of the type which is adapted to be used for high frequency signal transmission comprises an inner conductor 6 which may be of stranded copper wires, an inner insulating sheath 8 which surrounds the inner conductor, a layer 10 of braided or woven metallic shielding material, and finally an outer insulating sheath 12. When two cables of this type are electrically connected to each other, it is necessary to electrically connect the inner conductors 6 of the two cables to each other and the shielding material 12 of the two cables to each other while maintaining the electrical separation of the inner conductors and shielding material. A known type of contact pin 2 which is engageable with a complementary socket and which is intended for crimping onto the cable 4 has (FIGURE 6) an outer cylindrical ferrule 14 and an inner metallic ferrule 18 which is concentric with the outer ferrule and which is electrically separated therefrom by an insulating means 16. When the terminal is crimped onto the end of the cable, the center conductor is inserted into the inner ferrule 18 and the shielding material 10 is positioned in surrounding relationship to the rearward end 22 of the outer ferrule with the exposed portion of the inner insulating material extending into the end of the outer ferrule as shown in FIGURE 8. The inner ferrule 18 is crimped onto the inner conductor by means of a crimping die and anvil which move relatively through openings on opposite sides of the outer ferrule. A separate cylindrical sleeve 24 is located in surrounding relationship to the shielding material on the rearward end 22 of the ferrule and crimped to this rearward end of the ferrule and to a portion of the outer insulating material 12 as is also indicated in FIGURE 8. The present invention is directed to the provision of a crimping applicator having means for severing the individual terminals 2 from the carrier strip 26 with which they are integral and performing the crimping operations illustrated in FIGURES 6-8 to effect the required electrical connections. It should be mentioned at this point that the end of the cable 4 can be stripped in the manner shown in FIGURE 9, that is, with the end portion of the inner conductor exposed and with a portion of the shielding material 10 exposed, by means of a stripping apparatus fullyq disclosed and claimed in the co-pending application of Glendon H. Schwalm, and Coey W. Fritz, Ser. No. 678,909, filed Oct. 30, 1967. It will be assumed that the end of the cable has been prepared by means of a stripping apparatus of the type shown in application Ser. No. 678,909 or has been similary prepared for the crimping operation.

Referring now to FIGURES 15, a preferred form of applicator 30 in accordance with the invention comprises a base plate 32 which is suitably mounted on the platen 34 of a bench press having a reciprocable ram to which the ram 114 of the applicator is attached. The press may be of the general type disclosed in the US. patent to Kerns 3,343,398, and need not be further described here.

A support plate 36 is adjustably secured to, and mounted on, the upper surface of the base plate 32 by means of a fastener 38 which extends horizontally through the support plate 36 (FIGURE 5) and is threaded into a block 42 secured by a fastener 44 to the base plate 32. The head 40 of the fastener 38 is disposed on the front surface of the support plate so that the support plate can be moved rightwardly and leftwardly as viewed in FIG- URE 5 for adjustment purposes. A feed platform 46 is disposed above the surface of the support plate 36 and is pivotally mounted at its lefthand end, as viewed in FIGURE 1, on a flange 48 extending upwardly from the support plate 36. Feed platform 46 is normally biased upwardly and in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIGURE 1 by means of a spring 54 (FIGURE 5) which is interposed between the underside of support platform 46 and the upper surface of the support plate 36. The strip of contact terminals is guided over the upper surface of plate 46 by a guide bar 56 which overlies the carrier strip 26 of the strip of terminals and which is secured to the feed platform by suitable fasteners 58. The strip of contact terminals is also guided by means of retaining plate 60 secured to feed platform 46 by fasteners 62 which extends over the end portions of the terminals of the strip. A depending flange 64 of this retaining plate bears against the surfaces of the contact terminals and holds them against the surface of an insert 72 in the upper surface of the feed platform. The rearward ends of the terminals (the left-hand ends as viewed in FIGURE 5) and the carrier strip 26 are supported on a ledge portion of the feed platform and a shoulder 74 defined by the end of this ledge bears the radially extending collars 21 of the terminals.

A slight drag is imposed on the terminal strip during feeding by a drag plate 76 mounted against the front side of the feed platform 46 by means of an eccentric 78 pivoted to the platform at 80. A flange portion of plate 76 which overlies the carrier strip is biased downwardly against the surface of the carrier strip 26 by means of springs 84 which surround screws 82 threaded into the flange portion of the plate 76. When it is desired to relieve this drag on the carrier strip, as when a new strip of terminals is being inserted into the applicator, the lever on the eccentric is merely rotated through one half of a revolution thereby to raise the drag plate against the biasing force of the spring 84.

The terminals are fed rightwardly as viewed in FIG- URE 1 by means of a feed finger 66 which projects through an elongated slot 68 in the guide member 56. This feed finger is integral with, and depends from, a laterally extending arm 86 (see FIGURE 5) which is secured to an L-shaped mounting block 88. Mounting block 88, in turn, is fastened to the end of a slide member 90 having an adjustable pivotal connection 94 with the lower end of the feed lever 96, the adjustment of this connection being achieved by a suitable adjusting screw 92. It will be understood that adjustment of the location of this pivotal connection 94 is desirable for the purpose of changing the limits of the stroke of the feed finger. After the applicator has been adjusted for a given terminal strip, further adjustment of this pivotal connection is unnecessary.

The feed lever 96 is pivotally mounted intermediate its ends at 98 on a plate 100 which, in turn, is adjustably carried by a mounting plate 102 secured to the ram hous ing 104. The plate 100, and therefore the location of the pivotal connection 98, can be moved upwardly or down wardly as viewed in FIGURE 1 by means of an adjusting screw 106 which is threaded through the plate 100 as shown in FIGURE 1. Such adjustment of the location of pivot point 98 has the effect of changing the amplitude of the feed stroke so that the applicator can be adapted for use with terminal strips having varying pitches.

The upper end of the lever 96 has a pivotal connection (not specifically shown) with a slide member 108. This slide extends rightwardly as viewed in FIGURE 1 towards the ram 114 and has a cam follower 110 on its end. This cam follower bears against an inclined cam surface 112 on the ram 114 so that during initial downward movement of the ram, the slide member 108 will be moved leftwardly thereby swinging lever 96 in a counterclockwise direction and advancing the feed finger 66 to feed the strip toward the operating zone. The lefthand end of the slide member 108 is slidably supported in an extension 120 of a support 118 integral with the base member 32. The support member 118 and an additional support member 116 support the ram housing 104.

The lever 96 is normally biased leftwardly, that is, in a clockwise direction, by means of a spring 124, one end of which is secured to the lever and the other end of which is secured to an arm 122 extending from, and secured to, the extensions 120 of the support 118. It will thus be apparent that during initial downward movement of the ram, the lever 96 is swung through a counterclockwise arc to feed the terminal strip and locate the leading terminal of the strip between the crimping dies and anvils which will be described below. During upward movement of the ram 114, the lever 96 is returned to its initial position by the spring 124.

The terminal is crimped onto the cable by three crimpping dies 138', 140', 142' mounted on the lower end of the ram 114 which cooperate with three anvils 138, 140, 142. These anvils are mounted in a anvil mounting block 126 contained in a recess 136 on the upper surface of plate 32. Block 126 is generally E-shaped having a side 128 and three spaced-apart arms 130, 132, 134, see FIG- URES 4 and 10. The anvils 138, 140, 142 extend from the upper sides of anvil blocks 144, 146, and 148 respectively. Anvil block 144 is disposed above the upper surface of the arm 132 of the mounting block 126 and extends forwardly over the space between the arms 132 and 130. A guide arm 150 projects downwardly from the underside of anvil block 144 and has a sliding fit in the space between the arms 130, 132. The anvil blocks 146, 148 are mounted in side-by-side relationship in the space between the arms 132, 134 of the anvil mounting block 126. Blocks 146 and 148 are resiliently biased upwardly by springs 182, 184. The block 146 is retained in the die mounting 126 by a shoulder 176 which extends beneath block 144. Block 148 is retained in the die mounting block by a cover plate 149 secured to the upper surface of arm 134 and extending over the upper surface of block 148.

On its upper surface (see FIGURES 1 and 2) anvil block 144 has a pair of spaced-apart ears located rightwardly of the anvil 138 (as viewed in FIGURE 1) which are pivotally connected at 156 to the forward end of the lever 154. Lever 154 extends rearwardly above the base plate 132 and has its other end pivotally connected at 158 to a block 160 which is integral with, and extends upwardly from, the plate 32. During downward movement of the ram 114, the lever 154 is engaged intermediate its ends by a depending depressor member 162 mounted on the ram. As shown in FIGURE 2, this depressor member extends into a suitable recess in the ram and bears against a compression spring 164, this spring being relatively stiif so that upon downward movement of the ram 114, the lever will be swung in a counterclockwise arc about its pivotal axis 158 but after the lever has reached the limit of its clockwise movement (as will be described below), spring 164 is compressed and the depressor 162 recedes into the ram.

The anvil block 144 is normally biased upwardly by means of a spring 166 which bears against the underside of an extension of the anvil block and which extends into a recess in the tooling block. Upward movement of the anvil block 144 is limited by a laterally extending arm 168 of a retainer plate 170 secured to the front side of the block 126. At its lower end, this retainer plate 170 has an inwardly directed flange 172 by means of which it is fitted onto the tooling block. This retainer plate 170 is held against the surface of the tooling block by Suitable fasteners which also hold a bracket for the cable inserting mechanism described below.

The block 144 has a leftwardly extending arm (FIG URES 1 and 10) which overlies the end of the feed plat form 46. When block 144 is depressed, this arm causes the feed platform to swing downwardly about its pivot axis 52 for reasons explained below.

After the strip of contact terminals has been fed a distance equal to the space between adjacent terminals, the leading terminal of the strip will be located, as shown in FIGURE 6, above the anvils 140, 1142 and with the carrier strip extending beneath the anvil support block 144 of the anvil 138. When the lever 154 is moved downwardly by depressor 162, the block 144 moves downwardly as viewed in FIGURE 6 and the lefthand end of this block cooperates with the right hand side of the anvil 140 to shear the carrier strip at a location adjacent to the terminal, see FIGURE 7. The lever 154 and the anvil block 144 continue to move downwardly until the underside of the carrier strip is pressed against a ledge 176 of the anvil block 146. As shown in FIGURE 4, the anvil block 146 is supported on a relatively stiif spring 182 contained in the base plate 32. When the anvil block 144 moves against ledge 176, further downward movement of the block 144 also causes downward movement of the anvil block 146, the amount of such downward movement of latter anvil block being indicated by distance between opposed shoulders 180, 178 of the arm 132 and the anvil block 146 respectively.

As also shown in FIGURE 4, the anvil 142 extends from an anvil block 148 which is mounted against the anvil block 146 and one side of the arm 134 of the tooling block. This anvil block, 148, is also biased upwardly by a spring 184 which bears against the base of the recess 136 of plate 32 and which extends into a suitable opening on the lower end of the block 148.

The crimping anvils 138, 140, 142 cooperate with corresponding crimping dies 138', 140', and 142' mounted on the lower end of the arm 114. The dies 138', 140' are integral with plates 144', 146' which are mounted rigidly on the lower end of the arm. The die 142 is provided on the end of a plate 148 which is resiliently mounted on the lower end of the ram as indicated in FIGURE 4. This resilient mounting of the die 142' is desirable for the reason that the terminal being applied to the end of the cable is held by the anvil 142 and the die 142' while the end of the cable is being inserted into the connector. The connector is also held in position by means of a retainer member 186 secured to the end of the ram and having a slot 188 which straddles the terminal.

The operation of inserting the end of the cable 4 into the terminal 2 held in the crimping tooling is assisted by means of an inserting mechanism mounted on an L-shaped bracket 190 (FIGURE 4) which is secured to block 126 and against the previously identified plate 170. A slide member 192 is slidably supported on the upper surface of the bracket 190 and guided towards and away from the terminal held in the crimping tooling by means of suitable gibs 196. Slide 192 has a block 194 on its lefthand end and a spring 200 interposed between the bracket 190 and this block normally biases the slide leftwardly as viewed in FIGURE 4. The block 194 has a slot 201 on its upper side which is adapted to receive the cable 4. On the lefthand end of the slide, as viewed in FIG- URE 4, a pair of upstanding ears are provided which define an additional slot 198, the width of this slot being sufiicient to receive the cable 4 but being sufficiently narrow to prevent rearward movement of the sleeve 24 on the cable. At the time of insertion, the cable is positioned in the slots 201, 198 and the slide 192 is moved rightwardly as viewed in FIGURE 4 to insert the end of the cable into the terminal.

The operation of the disclosed embodiment requires that the ram move downwardly through a substantial portion of its operating cycle and then stop while the end of the cable is inserted into a connector as will be described below. This split cycle effect can be achieved in any desired manner; for example, where the press is of the crank-type as disclosed in the above-identified Kerns patent, a split cycle clutch mechanism can be provided between the crank of the press and the crank shaft. One suitable split cycle clutch mechanism, for example, is the Hilliard Type 4 two trip clutch manufactured by Hilliard Corporation of Elmira, NY.

The operation of the disclosed embodiment is as follows. At the beginning of the operating cycle (FIGURE 11), the feed platform will extend substantially horizontally, and, the feed finger will be in its retracted position, and the ram will be at the uppermost limit of its stroke. The operator first actuates the split-cycle clutch to cause the ram 114 to move downwardly through a substantial portion of its downward stroke. During this interval, lever 96 is swung through a counterclockwise are about its pivotal axis 98 and the strip of terminals is advanced to position the leading terminal between the crimping dies and the crimping anvils. This leading terminal will be fed above the surface of the anvil 140 but the carrier strip will be fed beneath the surface of the anvil block 144 as shown in FIGURE 6. After the strip has been fed, the depressor 162 engages the lever 154 and causes the block 144 to move downwardly thereby shearing the carrier strip from the previously fed terminal. The underside of the block 144 moves against the ledge 176 of the block 146 so that further downward movement of the block 144 also causes downward movement of the block 146 and the anvil 140. During the final stages of the initial portion of the cycle, the block 146 and anvil 140 are moved downwardly thereby to provide clearance, as indicated in FIGURE 7, for inward movement of the sleeve 24 as described below. When the block 144 is moved downwardly by lever 154, the horizontal arm 145 of block 144 also depresses the feed platform 46 so that the portion of the strip which extends beyond the right hand end of the feed platform follows the leading terminal until the leading terminal is sheared. After the leading terminal has been severed from the carrier strip, it is held by the die and anvil 140', 140 which move relatively through the slots 20 in the outer ferrule 14 of the terminal and against the inner ferrule. The leading connector is also supported and held by the previously described retainer member 186.

After the initial downward movement of the ram has been completed, the technician operating the apparatus positions the previously prepared end of the cable in the slots 201, 198 with the sleeve 24 in front of the ears 198. He then pushes the slide member 192 rightwardly as viewed in FIGURE 4 to insert the center conductor into the center ferrule 18 and to position the flaired shielding material in surrounding relationship to the ferrule potrion 22. He also moves the sleeve member 24 against the collar 21 of the terminal so that the parts will be in the positions of FIGURE 7. He then again energizes the split cycle clutch to drive the ram to the limit of its downward stroke whereby the dies and anvils will move relatively towards each other. During this final portion of the cycle, the die and anvil 142, 142 crimp the inner ferrule onto the inner conductor of the wire, the die and anvil 140, 140 crimp the sleeve onto the shielding material and onto the portion 22 of the terminal, and the die and anvil 138', 138 crimp the end portion of the sleeve onto the insulation. After completion of the crimping operation, the ram returns to its starting position and the finished crimped termination can be withdrawn from the operating zone.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that the provision of coaxial terminals in strip form and the crimping of such terminals onto the ends of coaxial cables presents several problems which are not commonly encountered in terminal applicators. The split cycle of the applicator is desirable in order to sever the leading terminal from the carrier strip and to give the Operator an opportunity to insert the cable end into the terminal. It is also necessary to support the terminal in a manner such that the shielding material of the cable can be positioned in surrounding relationship to the rearward end of the terminal and the sleeve 24 can be positioned in surrounding relationship to the shielding material. It follows that the terminal, at this stage of the crimpmg cycle, can not be supported at its rearward end but must be otherwise supported. The present embodiment shows one means of achieving these requirements although other apparatus within the scope of the appended claims will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

It will be apparent that many of the principlesof the invention might be used in hand tools for crimping coaxial terminals onto the ends of coaxial cables. For example, a hand tool might be provided having one d1e and anvil set which is adapted to hold the terminal without crimping it in a manner such that the cable can be inserted at an intermediate stage of the operating cycle. An arrangement of this type will facilitate the ca ble inserting operation which is tedious and difficult in many existing coaxial terminal hand tools.

Changes in construction will occur to those skilled in the art and various apparently different modifications and embodiments may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. The matter set forth in the foregoing description and accompanying drawings is offered by way of illustration only. The actual scope of the invention is intended to be defined in the followlng claims when viewed in their proper perspective against the prior art.

What is claimed is:

1. A device for crimping a coaxial terminal onto the end of a coaxial cable, said terminal having concentric inner and outer ferrules adapted to be electrically connected by crimping to the center conductor and shield ing material respectively of said cable, said apparatus comprising:

first crimping die and anvil means for crimping said inner ferrule onto said center conductor,

second crimping die and anvil means for crimping said shielding material onto said outer ferrule,

split cycle actuating means for moving said first die and anvil means relatively towards each other to grip, but not crimp, said terminal and for subsequently moving said first and second die and anvil means into crimping engagement with said inner and outer ferrules whereby, said terminal is gripped by said first die and anvil means during a first portion of the cycle of said device and the end portion of said cable is positioned in said terminal with said inner conductor extending into said inner ferrule and with said shielding material surrounding said outer ferrule, and said terminal and cable are crimped during the second portion of the operating cycle of said device.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 including terminal strip feeding means for feeding a strip of said terminals towards said die and anvil means, and severing means for severing the leading terminal of said strip from said strip.

3. A device as set forth in claim 1 including third die and anvil means diseposed adjacent to said second die and anvil means and remote from said first die and anvil means, said third die and anvil means being movable with said second die and anvil means and being adapted to crimp a sleeve onto the portion of said cable which is adjacent to said terminal, said second die and anvil means being adapted to crimp said sleeve onto the end portion of said terminal and onto the shielding material surrounding the end portion of said terminal.

4. A device as set forth in claim 1, said first die and anvil means being resiliently mounted in said device whereby said second die and anvil means are permitted to move against said outer ferrule while said first die and anvil means move only a limited distance into said inner ferrule during said second portion of said cycle.

5. A device for severing a terminal from a carrier strip, crimping the severed terminal onto the end of a conductor and crimping a sleeve onto said terminal and onto a portion of said conductor, said device comprising:

a pair of side-by-side crimping dies and a pair of sideby-side crimping anvils, said dies and anvils being movable relatively towards and away from each other along a predetermined path,

one of said anvils being normally located along said path in advance of the other anvil,

means for feeding a strip of said terminals towards said dies and anvils to position the leading terminal of said strip to said aother anvil with the carrier strip of said terminal strip extending beneath said one anvil,

means for moving said one anvil towards said other anvil to sever said terminal from said strip and for subsequently moving said anvils relatively towards 10 coaxial contact therminals onto the ends of coaxial cables, said additional die and anvil being disposed adjacent to said other anvil and being adapted to crimp the center ferrule of a coaxial terminal onto the center conductor of a cable.

7; A device as set forth in claim 5 including holding means for holding said terminal between said dies and References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,002,220 5/1935 Douglas 29-203 2,377,829 6/1945 Vaill 29208 3,009,130 11/1961 Redslob 29-203 3,165,139 1/1965 Whitney 29208 3,205,5 68 9/ 1965 Stull 29203 3,216,091 11/1965 Floyd 29517 X 3,328,871 7/1967 Over 29203 3,350,765 11/1-967 Karl 29-203 3,359,780 12/1967 Kerns 29-203 3,402,452 9/1968 Mraz 29-203 FOREIGN PATENTS 151,730 11/1961 U.S.S.R.

WAYNE A. MORSE, 111., Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 29208, 517, 628

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No. 3,484,922 December 23, 1969 Coey William Fritz et a1.

It is certified that error appears in the above identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 8, line 73, "diseposed" should read disposed Column 9, line 25, "aother" should read other line 37, "die", second occurrence, should read device Column 10, line 1, "therminals" should read terminals Signed and sealed this 27th day of October 1970.

(SEAL) Attest:

WILLIAM E. *SCHUYLER, IR.

Commissioner of Patents Edward M. Fletcher, J r.

Attesting Officer 

